A Beautiful Tapestry
by Forever Adorkable
Summary: Bella is the princess of France who is being forced into an arranged marriage with Edward- the prince of England. The marriage turns out to be something neither of them expected to find. 17th or 18th century. Rated T to be safe.


Life is like a tapestry. We start out with just one color. Everyone has their own particular color that makes up the base of their tapestry. It is the people they know that change the color of their tapestry, that give them their beautiful designs. Different people create different designs, and those who create more of an impression on us have bigger, brighter designs. These are the people who we will always remember: our families, our best friends, and our loves.

Love had never even entered my mind. I had always though my only purpose in the world was to keep the peace. I was to be shipped off to England to be married off and forever forgotten by a father too concerned with land and money to ever care for me and a mother who only seemed to care only about making me the perfect wife. I thought I was doomed to be a baby maker- nothing more. I was resigned to this fact. It was all I had ever been taught. I was positive that the threads of my tapestry would always be the same bleak, boring beige that seemed to match my life thus far. In fact, I was determined to keep it that way. The only joy I had was my brother, and now I would surely not see him for years. My whole life had culminated to this moment, and from this moment on my life would no longer belong to me. It would belong to Prince Edward II of England, and even though I had never met him, I hated him for it.

So here I sat in a carriage on its way to a church, wearing far too many frills and far too much lace for my taste. I could do nothing to stop what I was about to do. But I was used to that. My life had never been my own, and it never would be. I had to face the fact that today I was marrying Edward, a man I had never even met. No, I couldn't think like that. I wasn't just marrying Edward, I was marrying England. Our marriage would only breed peace and happiness between England and France. I had to think of it that way, or I didn't think I could go through with it. It was hard enough getting married, something I wouldn't do even if I had a choice.

I hated my father for planning this without even asking my opinion, but I hated my mother for letting him do it. My parents had been married because of an arrangement as well, and she had never been happy with how things had turned out for her. My father was an arrogant, power hungry and malicious man. No one who truly knew him liked him. This betrothal was a double sided win. My father gained power and prestige in one of the most powerful nations in the world, and England gained reassurance that they would not be attacked by France any time soon. That was what was most important. I had seen some the things my father did to the countries he captured, and by marrying Edward, I could save that many more people.

I took a deep breath and stood up. The doorman opened the door to the carriage and helped me out. He escorted me up the steps and motioned to the guards to open the doors. A gush of air hit me as they swung open. I stood for a moment in the doorway, contemplating running. And then I saw him at the end of the isle.

I don't know what it was, but I was drawn to him. It wasn't because he was _immensely _attractive or because it was a bit cold outside. Although both probably contributed to it, the most prominent reason that I ended up walking down the aisle is because he looked just as worried as me about the wedding.

I walked down the aisle towards my future. Outside the door, I left my past- especially my father and my mother. As I reached my soon to be husband, he gave me a half smile that made my heart flutter. Maybe this marriage thing wouldn't be so bad after all.

…

The ceremony was a blur of Latin that I could not understand. At the end, Edward pecked me on the cheek- a much appreciated gesture. I was not ready for anything more with this man to whom I had never even spoken. After the ceremony, much celebration occurred. There was dancing, food, and more than a few people were drunk. Edward and I never had the opportunity to talk to each other past a few words over all the ruckus around us. When I did hear his voice though, I was mystified. It was clear and deep, but not too deep. It sounded almost musical. At several points over the course of the evening's events, he turned to me.

"Are you okay?" he would ask, sounding almost… concerned. I would nod, and everything would continue on its merry way. After a couple hours of merriment, the king stood and came toward Edward and me with an extravagant red and gold wine glass in his hand.

"A toast!" he called, as the room went deadly silent. There was a small shuffle as everyone picked up their own wine glasses. "To the lovely bride and the lucky groom: may your lives be full of love, prosperity, and…" he winked at us, "posterity!" There was a chorus of 'Here, Here's I felt my face turn ten shades of red as I took a sip from my glass. I looked up at Edward and noticed he was blushing as well. So he realized the not so subtle innuendo as well… I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was. We both knew what was expected of us, considering we needed to provide an heir to the throne. And the King's toast seemed to remind everyone of that as they soon filtered out of the room, leaving only a few behind. We were ushered out of the room as well, up some stairs, through seemingly endless corridors and into separate rooms, where were prepared for our… duties.

I felt nauseous. I pushed that thought to the back of my mind and focused on breathing as the women who I assumed had been assigned to be my Ladies in Waiting unlaced my gigantic wedding gown. Once the plethora of underskirts and corsets and other necessary garments were removed, I pulled a night gown over my head and combed my hair into a loose braid. I tried to take as long as I could. I brushed my hair until there were no more knots. I rubbed lotion on my hands. I even sprayed some perfume. And once I put it off as long as I could, I knew I could put it off no longer. I motioned to my ladies to open the door between my room and the prince's and crossed over to the bed. A maid who had stayed behind pulled back the sheets for me, and I climbed in and sat under the covers.

Prince Edward entered the room and got into the bed next to me. He was followed by a maid who helped him as well, his father, and a priest. As the priest blessed our marriage bed with fertility, Edward and I both stared forward awkwardly, and we continued to sit that way for a while after everyone had left us alone. After a few minutes of silence, Edward turned to me.

"You know what? I don't think I've even heard your voice yet." He told me incredulously. I opened my mouth to rebut, but I realized that he was right. The only direct communication had been when he asked me if I was alright and I had nodded. I had never said anything. I had only nodded my head. And now he probably thought me a fool for not talking to him sooner.

"I'm sorry." Those were my first words to him, ever. An apology. It was like I had never left France.

"Don't be sorry," he said, giving me a perfect half smile, "Now I've heard your voice, and it was a relief." He thought my voice was a relief. A relief! Did he really think so poorly of me already as to assume that my voice was ugly?

"A relief? What did you think I would sound like? Surely you had to expect my voice to be somewhat normal!"

"Yes, of course I expected you to sound normal. I was just saying that we have known each other for hours, yet we haven't even officially conversed until now. I only found it a bit interesting." He said, a bit too defensively.

"And what did you think? I hope it's up to your standards." I rolled over and closed my eyes, deciding in that moment that it did not matter what was expected of me. I was doing nothing of that sort with the Prince. He must have gotten the message, because after a couple of moments, he rolled onto his side, back facing mine, and went to sleep too.


End file.
